In the agricultural industry, there is a continual effort to increase operator and machine productivity while decreasing operational costs. Accordingly, farmers have embraced larger and more technically advanced machinery, more precise farming techniques and more automated technology to relieve machine operators of many of the tasks associated with cultivating and harvesting agricultural fields. Precision farming enables crop product to be applied under field-specific parameters to optimize and better predict yield based on the particular characteristics of the field. Properly employed, precision farming techniques can reduce product, operator and equipment costs. Similarly, automated guidance systems, relying on geo-positioning satellites for accurate location data, and on user input for designated tasks, can reduce operator error and fatigue, further mitigating costs.
However, while beneficial for assisting particular apparatus maneuvers, such systems may not address other costs and inefficiencies associated with agricultural operations, whether in the context of a particular vehicle and operator, or in the context of managing a fleet of vehicles.